Installation for conveying slivers between two textile machines



P. DILLIES March 5, 1968 INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWOTEXTILE MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 24, 1964 NH wmw 3% Nu N JP. DlLLlES INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWO TEXTILEMACHINES Filed Dec. 24, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 5, 1968 P. DlLLiES 3INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWO TEXTILE MACHINES FiledDec. 24, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 March 5, 1968 P. DILLIES 3,371,388

INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWO TEXTILE MACHINES FiledDec. 24, 1964 e Sheets-Sheet 4 March 5, 1968 P. DILLIES 3,371,388

INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWO TEXTILE MACHINES FiledDec. 24, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 .n qi

g 5 I I'III-I-I March 5, 1 968 P. DILLIES 3 3,371,388

INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWO TEXTILE MACHINES FiledDec. 24, 1964 I 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 United States Patent F 3,371,388INSTALLATION FOR CONVEYING SLIVERS BETWEEN TWO TEXTILE MACHINES PierreDillies, Croix, Nord, France, assignor to Etablissernents Lemaire &Dillies, Nord, France, a French company Filed Dec. 24, 1964, Ser. No.420,965 Claims priority, application France, Jan. 3, 1964, 959,3186'Claims. (Cl. 19-151) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention isdirected to the design of an installation for continuously conveyingslivers between two textile machines, for example between the webdivider which is placed at the delivery of a carding machine and aspinning frame, or alternatively between a drawing and condensingmachine and a roving machine. The object which is contemplated is toprocess slivers or roving, hereinafter referred to as slivers, in a formin which said slivers can be transferred automatically between the twomachines, thereby dispensing with any further need for handlingoperations, which in turn results in very numerous advantages.

The installation according to the invention comprises, in the case ofeach group of slivers or in the case of each sliver, a conveyor belt ortraveling band which is driven in continuous motion at a suitable speedand which extends from the delivery of the machine located upstream tothe feed end of the machine which is located downstream.

It is wholly suitable to make use of an installation of this typebetween the web divider which is placed at the delivery of a cardingmachine and a spinning frame. In fact, in addition to the economy intime and labor which increase production, a very appreciable reductionis achieved in the quantity of waste fibers produced in the spinningoperation, in view of the fact that it is easy to employ these fibersagain immediately owing to the proximity of the carding machine and byreason of the fact that it is not necessary to tear them. Provision needno longer be made for bobbins or conveying systems for moving back andforth between the carding section and spinning section. Considerationneed no longer be given to the spacing of slivers, to the widths ofcheeses and reciprocal motion of beam tenters since each sliver issupplied under the best possible conditions to the spinningframespindle. The presence of carding machine operators is no longer requiredsince there is no longer any winding onto bobbins and, as a consequence,the spinning machine operator can very easily take care of the cardingmachine since close attention need no longer be devoted to re-winding ofslivers. Materials can very easily be spun which are rubbed only to avery slight extent and which could not be spun with the bobbin system.It is easy to detect the causes of a defect in a thread since theprogress of this latter can very conveniently be checked back from thespindle to the tape and to the carding machine in order to trace thecause of the defect. Since 3,371,388 Patented Mar. 5, 1938 the slivershave not been subjected to any handling, there is no danger of mixingthose of one variety with those of another variety or the slivers of anew stock with those of an old stock, or of spinning the most recentslivers before older slivers. Since the slivers arrive in a continuousmanner, there is no piecing in the reels of yarn, with the result thatthe yarn has less irregularities and breaks less frequently during.winding-01f. Supervision is easier since the slivers are clearly visibleand readily accessible. There is no need to reduce the speed of theusual drawing processes and any spinning defects arising from thetransfer of slivers from the carding section to the spinning section areeliminated.

This invention also has for its object forms of embodi ment whichcomprise at least one of the following characteristic features: (a) Theconveyor belt is carried by drums mounted in supports which aresuspended, preferably in an adjustable manner, from a horizontal girderlocated at a height which ensures sufiicient clearance for personnel.

(b) The upstream loop of the endless-belt conveyor passes over a headdrum mounted in a support fixed to the lower extremity of a column whichis suspended from the corresponding extremity of the girder.

(c) The first support for the drums carried by the girder is located ata certain distance away from the corresponding extremity of said girderin such a manner as to ensure that the conveyor belt has a suitableangle of slope which'permits the slivers to rest under good conditionson the top ascending run of said conveyor belt.

(d) The girder is provided with one or a number of smooth intermediatesupports on which at least the top run of the conveyor belt is intendedto rest.

(e) Immediately upstream of the head drum, there is located a fixedentry guide which is preferably followed by an idler drum and theconfiguration of which is such that the slivers which pass over saidguide are naturally arranged on the conveyor belt side by side and inuniformly spaced relation.

(f) The conveyor belt is driven from one of the two machines by one ofthe drums on which it is supported, preferably through the intermediaryof a system providing a variable speed ratio.

, (g) The downstream machine is provided underneath the downstream endof each conveyor belt with a funnel connected to a suction system forinducing the transfer of slivers which are then taken one by one for thepurpose of feeding them into the corresponding inputs of the deviceswhich are intended to receive them in the second machine.

A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from a perusalof the description which follows below and from a study of theaccompanying drawings in which is shown by way of example one form ofembodiment of an installation for transferring slivers between thewebdividing unit of a carding machine and a spinning frame.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the installation as a whole;

FIG. 2 is a front view in vertical cross-section taken along the line11-11 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in profile on a larger scale, this view being taken incross-section along the line IIIIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a detail of FIG. 2, on a larger scale and looking in theopposite direction. a

FIG. 5 is a top plan view corresponding to FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a profile 'view looking in the direction of the arrow VI ofFIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a detail view of a portion of FIG. 3, shown on a larger scale;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view corresponding to FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a view in cross-section taken along the line IXIX of FIG. 7;

FIG. is a view in cross-section taken along the line XX of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 shows on a larger scale the initial outgoing portion of aconveyor belt looking in the direction of the arrow XI of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is a view in profile looking in the direction of the arrow XIIof FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a top plan view corresponding to FIG. 12.

The installation which is shown as a complete assembly in FIGS. 1 to 3is intended for the direct and continuous transfer of slivers of textilefibers which are delivered from the web divider 1 of a carding machineto a spinning frame 2.

This transfer installation comprises conveyor belts 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e,4 4g and 4h which are eight in number in the example and which aremounted respectively on eight nearly identical structural supports. Saidsupports in fact differ from each other only in respect of theirposition, orientation and the length of certain components.

There will now be described in detail only one structural support, forexample the support which carries the conveyor belt 4a. Thecorresponding components of the seven other structural supports havebeen designated in the drawings by the same reference numerals to whichthere have been assigned the indices b, c, d, e, f, g, h respectively.

The conveyor belt 4a is an endless belt which has, for example, a widthof the order of ten centimeters and which passes over a head drum 6a andover a tail drum 7a, the top run of said conveyor belt beingadditionally passed over an intermediate drum 8a and over one or anumber of smooth intermediate guides 9a whilst the bottom run thereof isadditionally passed over an intermediate drum 11a and over an auxiliarytail drum 12a.

The head drum 6a is mounted to rotate freely on a support 14a (as alsoshown in FIGS. 11 to 13) which is secured to the lower extremity of acolumn 15a which is suspended vertically from one end of a box girder16a, said box girder being in turn suspended at a height which ensuressufiicient clearance to enable personnel to pass underneath from ahorizontal structural steel member 22 forming part of a framework whichis in turn anchored to the building in which the machines are housed.The girder 16a is accordingly suspended by means of a tiebrace 18a and acramp 19a which bears on the bottom flange of a channel iron member 21which is placed on its side and the top flange of which is accordinglyfixed against the underface of the structural steel member 22.

The intermediate drums 8a and 11a are mounted to rotate freely inanother support 24a which is also fixed to the box girder 16a and, in asimilar manner, the tail drums 7a and 12a are mounted in a support 25a(as also shown in FIGS. 4 to 6) which is also fixed to the box girder16a.

In the example shown, the box girder 16a is almost horizontal. In actualfact, however, said box girder is set at a very small angle of slopefrom the upstream end towards the downstream end. The tension of theconveyor belt can easily be regulated by displacing the support 24aeither in one direction or in the other along the horizontal box girder16a. For this purpose, the support 24a consists of a sheet-steel plate27 (as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9) which is held applied against a verticalface of the square-section box girder 16a by means of four bolts 28which are inserted in pairs in two clamping plates 29 which are appliedagainst the other vertical face of the box girder 16a. By slackening offthe bolts 28, itis thus -made possible to slide the support 24a alongthe box girder for the purpose of regulating the belt tension.

The support 25a on which the tail drums 7a, 12a are carried is mountedin a similar manner on the box girder 4 16a by means of four bolts 34and two' clamping plates such as the plate 36 (as shown in FIGS. 4- to6).

The smooth intermediate guide 9a is also secured to the box girder 16aby means of a plate 31 (as shown in FIG. 10) which is rigidly fixed tosaid guide and held applied against the underface of the box girder 16aby means of bolts 32 which apply a clamping plate 33 against the topface of said box girder.

The head support 14a is also adapted to carry an idler drum 37a (asshown in FIGS. 11 to 13) and a fixed entry guide 38a having aconfiguration such that the slivers which are delivered from thecorresponding story of the web divider 1 are naturally spaced at uniformintervals on said drum and deposited in similarly spaced array on thetop run of the conveyor belt 4a which is carried by the head drum 6a.

The head support 14a also comprises a plate 40 which is secured by meansof bolts 41 and clamping plates 42 against one face of the column 15a.

The conveyor 4a is driven from the tail drum 7a by means of a drivesystem which comprises a pulley 45 (as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6) whichforms one piece with said drum, a belt 47 which passes over said pulleyand over another pulley 48 carried by a shaft 49 which extends along theentire length of the spinning frame and which is mounted in bearings 52which are respectively secured to right-angle brackets 54, said bracketsbeing fixed against the web of the channel iron member 21. The pulley 48is a stepped pulley and the belt 47 is a rubberized belt in order topermit the possibility of regulating the speed of the conveyor belt 4a.The shaft 49 is driven in rotation from the spinning frame 2 through theintermediary of an assembly such as a radial plate unit 55 (as shown inFIG. 1) comprising gear-wheels and, for example, a belt transmissionsystem 57 with stepped pulleys, also for the purpose of speedregulation. The radial plate unit 55 is in turn driven from the motor 59of the spinning frame through the intermediary of a suitable drivesystem.

There is additionally fixed on that end of the box girder 16a which islocated above the spinning frame 2 a support 61a on which is mounted anidler drum 62a (as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6) over which the slivers 100 areintended to pass before progressing downwards into the differentpressure cylinders such as the cylinder 64 (as shown in FIG. 3) whichare set at intervals on both faces of the spinning frame along theentire length of this latter. In the exemplified embodiment, eachconveyor belt such as 4a feeds a certain number of spinning-frame heads(as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). There have also been indicated in FIG. 3the false twisting devices 65, the spindles 66, the travelers 67, thedevices 71 for sucking waste fibers, the ducts or conduits 72 whichextend along the entire length of the spinning frame and which areconnected to a suction device 75 (as shown in FIG. 2), as well as thetwo servicing footplates 77. The conveyor belts are located at a heightsuch that servicing personnel stationed on the footplates can gain readyaccess to the slivers which are deposited on said conveyor belts.

Beneath the downstream extremity of each conveyor belt, for example theconveyor belt 4a, provision is made for a funnel such as 81a which isconnected to a suction conduit 82; said conduit also extends along theentire length of the spinning frame and is also connected to the device75 for sucking waste fibers. The funnel referredto is intended tofacilitate the initial transfer of the slivers when the entireinstallation is put into operation and also to receive and dischargethose slivers which may break between conveyor belt and pressurecylinder.

The web divider 1 comprises four stories 96, 97, 98, 99 of rubbers (asshown in FIG. 3) which deliver web strips or slivers. The slivers whichare delivered from the first story of rubbers 96 are conveyed onto thetwoend conveyor belts 4a and 4/1 of which the entry guides such as theguide 38a are located at a suitable corresponding height, the entryguide of the last conveyor belt 4h being no longer visible in FIG. 3since it is located at the same level as the entry guide 38a of theconveyor-belt 4a. The entry guide 38b of the conveyor belt 4b and thecorresponding guide of the belt 4g are located at a slightly higherlevel and receive the slivers which are delivered from the second stageof rubbers 97. The entry guide 38c of the conveyor belt 40 and thecorresponding entry guide of the belt 4 are located at a level which isagain slightly higher and receive the slivers of the third story ofrubbers 98. Finally, the entry guide 38d of the conveyor belt 4d as wellas the corresponding entry guide of the belt 4a which are at the highestlevel in the installation receive the slivers which are delivered fromthe top story of rubbers 99.

There have also been illustrated in FIG. 3 four horizontal standby rods101, 102, 103, 104 which are each located at the delivery of the webdivider 1 at a slightly lower level than the corresponding entry guideof the conveyor belts, for a reason which will be explained hereinafter.

There are located at the bottom of the web divider 1 a winding drum 111and a bobbin 112 which is held by guide rails 113 and, similarly, thetop portion of the web divider frame carries a winding drum 115 and abobbin 116 which is held by guide rails 117.

Provision is also made at the top of the divider frame for a fan 121 forthe purpose of returning false slivers to the charger.

There is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a control desk 12s on which arecentralized the electric control devices of the installation and, inparticular, the devices for controlling the synchronized motors of thecarding machine, the cam gear, the fan 121 for returning false sliversto the charger and the sliver suction fan of the spinning-frame.

The operation of the belt conveyors is made dependent on the spinningframe inasmuch as it is carried out through the intermediary of aspeed-changing mechanism which is driven by the spinning frame and soregulated that the feed rolls of said spinning frame absorb with slighttension the slivers which are brought in by the conveyor belts.

Similarly, the speed of transmission is regulated by means of the radialplate 55 and belt drive wiih stepped pulleys 57 and, as a consequence,the speed of each conveyor belt is regulated by means of the steppedpulleys 48 in such a manner as to produce a light drawing action on theslivers which are delivered from the rubbers of the web divider.

The spinner has the task of operating the control units which are placedon the control desk 123 in order to carry out the convenient startingand stopping of the installation except at the end of take-up, in whichcase stoppage is automatic.

The operation of the installation is as follows:

At the time of initial processing of stock, the slivers are deliveredsimultaneously from the rubbers of the web divider. The machine operatorbegins by taking up the slivers from the top rubbers 98, 99 ontothewinding drum 115 and these slivers are therefore wound onto thebobbin 116.

During this period of time, those slivers which are delivered from thelower rubbers 96, 97 fall to the ground and it is merely necessary toplace them on the winding drum 111 and on the bobbin 112 in order thatthey should thus be taken up progressively as they arrive.

The slivers which are delivered from the web divider therefore formtogether two inclined curtains or sheets between the rub-bers and thebobbins, from which the slivers can readily be removed for the purposeof passing them over the fixed entry guides such as the guide 38a andthen caused to be conveyed over the corresponding conycyor belts.

On each conveyor belt, for example on the conveyor belt 4a, the sliversare therefore transferred from the fixed entry guide 38a beneath theentry drum 37a onto the initial portion of the top run of the conveyorbelt 4a which passes successively over the intermediate drum 8a, overthe fixed guide 9a and over the tail drum 7a. Whilst the conveyor beltreturns to its starting point and passes over the auxiliary tail drum12a, over the intermediate drum 11a and again over the head drum 6a, theslivers fall from the downstream end of the top run of the conveyor beltinto the funnel 81a of the spinning. frame and are drawn into thesuction conduit 82 which is connected to the device 75 for sucking wastefibers.

When all of the slivers have been conveyed and sucked through, themachine operator then moves to each of the funnels such as the funnel81a in turn in order to extract each sliver which falls therein and toplace this latter beneath the corresponding pressure cylinder 64, theninto the false twist devices 65 and into the travelers 67 for thepurpose of winding them onto the spindles 66 which immediately begin thespinning process. I When a thread breaks during the spinning operation,it is sucked through the corresponding pipes 71, then into the conduits72 up to the device 75 for sucking waste fibers.

At the end of stock, the automatic stoppage of the spinning frame alsostops the carding section but with a certain time-lag in the case of thespinning frame in order to compensate the higher inertia of the cardingmachine.

Re-sbarting is facilitated by the fact that, at the time of stoppage,the slivers are slackened between the delivery of the rubbers of the Webdivider and the entry guides of the conveyor belts, with the result thatsaid slivers form a reserve sheet, as shown in chain-dotted lines inFIG. 3 in the case of the slivers which pass out of the bottom story ofrubbers 96 and which rest on the horizontal stand-by rod 101. A similarreserve is formed at the delivery of each of the four stories of thefour rubbing stories. The slivers thus form a reference which enablesthe machine operator to set the re-starting of the spinning frame inrelation to the speed of delivery of the slivers from the carding unit,with a view to preventing any breaks from occurring at the time ofre-starting.

When the slivers have been passed a first time as indicated above, it ismerely necessary thereafter, at the time of changes of stock, to leavethe slivers on the conveyor belts and to wind a certain quantity overthe entry of each conveyor belt in such a manner as to permit thepossibility, when the carding section is stopped, of joining the sliversof the new stock to the slivers of the old stock which are in thestand-by position.

After starting of the carding frame and spinning frame, adjustments oftwist and count are checked, the starting lever is lifted and thespindles are changed for final operation.

As will be readily understood, this invention is not limited to the formof embodiment which has been described and illustrated but can beprovided with a number of modifications without thereby departing eitherfrom the scope or the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. Installation for continuously transferring slivers from a firsttextile machine adapted to produce slivers to .a second textile machineadapted to process said slivers, said installation comprising aplurality of narrow endless conveyor belts, each of said conveyor beltsextending overhead from a location at the exit from said first textilemachine to another location above the entrance to said second textilemachine and including an upstream loop at said location at the exit fromsaid first textile machine and a downstream loop at said other location,and guiding means in front of the upstream end of each of said conveyorbelts for guiding slivers leaving said first textile machine and fordistributing said slivers regularly over the width of said conveyorbelt, said conveyor belts being laterally spaced apart from one another,like means supporting each of said conveyor belts, each of said meanscomprising a girder mounted overhead, rotary drums mounted on supports,each of said supports including means mounting the support on the girderand for permitting the position of the support along the length of thegirder to be adjusted, said belt passing over and in contact with saiddrums, the axis of each of said drums being transverse of the length ofthe belt, said means supporting each of said conveyor belts being sopositioned as to provide headroom under the conveyor belts for anoperator of the installation.

2. Installation according to claim 1, in which each of said conveyorbelts has a first portion extending upwardly from said location at theexit from said first textile machine and a second portion extendingsubstantially horizontally tosaid other location.

3. Installation according to claim 1, in which an upright column issuspended from the extremity of each of the girders at the upstream endof the conveyor belt supported by the girder, a head drum mounted on asupport, said support being mounted on the lower extremity of thecolumn, the axis of said head drum being transverse of the length of thebelt, the upstream loop of the belt passing about and in contact withsaid head drum.

4. Installation according to claim 1, in which the most upstream of thedrums carried by the girder is positioned so as to provide an upwardangle of the conveyor belt between the head drum and said upstream drumcarried by the girder predetermined to permit the sliver to assume aproper disposition at the top of the ascending run of the conveyor belt.

guiding means comprises an idler rotary drum and a stationary curvedguiding rod situated in a plane sustantially parallel to the axis ofsaid idler drum and positioned for passage thereover of the sliversleaving said first textile machine, said guiding rod having aconfiguration adapted to cause the slivers passing over said rod andsaid idler drum to be arranged on said drum side by side in uniformlyspaced relation.

6. Installation according to claim 1, further comprising at the exitfrom said first textile machine at least one rotating winding drum and abobbin frictionally maintained against said rotating Winding drum fortemporarily winding said slivers leaving said first textile machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,610,209 12/1926 Schirnek 19-105X 2,389,024 11/1945 Brownlee 19-156.1 2,778,186 1/1957 Luttgen et al.5750 3,130,535 4/1964 Royster 5750 X 3,131,527 5/1964 Gourley 57-345 X3,162,004 12/1964 Hogg et al 57--34.5 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 869,864 11/1941 France.

841,224 7/1960 Great Britain.

928,397 6/1963 Great Britain.

524,151 4/1955 Italy.

DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner.

